I've been cleared for limited movements with weight training, but, frustratingly, the gym will not have me because of my other medical problems. I can't afford a whole array of different weights in different sizes (heck, I can't afford antyhing!) and the only ones I have just now are too light. I'm looking for things I can use to bicep curl, overhead lift, "row" and bench press in single arm weights of over 2kg. I filled up an empty milk carton with water but the handle is in a tricky place and it's much heavier on one side than the other, and then all the water started to leak out!

Is there anything roughly the right size and shape that you might find around the average house for these kinds of exercises? More reps on lighter weights is not allowed as that starts to aggravte other problems, it does have to be more weight.

Do-it-yourself medicine ball: take an old basketball, doesn't even have to hold air. Cut a slit in the ball. Fill with sand or, in a pinch, dirt. Clean around the slit, tape well with duct tape. 10-15 pounds is a good weight.

You can also get creative with sandbags, tires, even rocks on a sled.

Or, invest in a set of exercise bands.

HTH,
Kaw

Second the band idea. They take up little room, travel well, and are great for supplementing with free weights if you decide to add to your "home gym"

These are the bands that I use and I love them. The site also offers a lot of suggestions for upper and lower body workouts.

http://www.resistancebandtraining.com/

It's true the milk bottle handles are very awkward. You can use the round plastic 2l water or soda bottles, they are nicer to grip. Wrap a rubber band or two around if they are slippery. Or the 200 or 500ml if you can't grip the larger ones. You can fill them with gravel or pebbles if the water is not heavy enough. An old handbag or nylon bag with nice handles can be filled with water bottles or canned items. I can get quite a good workout carrying my groceries up the stairs in the sturdy eco-reusable bags they sell at the checkout counter, and the handles are very comfortable. Here are some other ideas from Stumptuous: No Weights? No Problem! Notice in the pictures, they are not necessarily only doing the standard bicep curls and things, a lot is imitating the realistic stresses you would have in daily life, like carrying groceries or suitcases or a child. (Have you got any small children around you can work up to?) I think it is what they call "dynamic" lifting.

If you want to get fancy, the exercise bands, and small hand weights, are usually fairly inexpensive. Check in your local hypermarket, Carrefour or Tesco(?) or whatever you have there if you don't have a sporting goods store handy. If they have any exercise things at all -- it may vary by the season -- they will have those. Usually adjacent to the children's toys. I think even our Marks and Spencer in the UAE has them, bizarrely.

Rose, have you got any hammers, mallets, or a sledgehammer? If one hammer is too small, duct tape is your friend, tape two together to make a dumbell...it won't be perfect but might do the trick. You might also be able to get hold of a scrap of metal pipe, or buy a piece of cheap plumbing pipe in the right length. If you get standard plumbing pipe with threaded ends or plastic pipe with end caps, you can fill it with sand, rocks, dirt and/or water (wet sand is heavier than dry). Duct tape is again your friend for making sure this kind of thing is sealed, or for keeping the water in the milk jug (you can add sand there, too if it's not heavy enough).

You could also make smaller sandbags using an old cut off trouser leg, sew or duct tape one end closed to form a bag, add sand/rocks/dirt, roll it up from the bottom like a burrito, then duct tape to seal the deal.

Don't forget bodyweight stuff. You may be able to do single arm push-ups with your hand on a wall or countertop, tie a dog leash or other sturdy rope or strap around anything solid to pull yourself up on it (aka rowing), tie a rope through the handle on the milk jug and use that for bent over rows (use a scrap of broomstick/pipe with rope/strap in the middle for a T handle if desired, or a loop of rope through the pipe for more of a waterski handle). If you need more ideas, just give a shout.

Oh, chain is heavy...maybe a neighbor has an old scrap that's too rusted for towing but that you could use? Also stones, old bricks, firewood? Again you can use a bag or cloth over something like that so it's easier to grip and doesn't make a mess indoors.

Judging by the BBC Scotland weather report, a nice few bags of rock salt or road sand would be multi-purpose!

Usually, yes, but luckily (it's not often I get to say this sentence) I am housebound. I can just about roll over in my own bed without help, but it's amazing what you can do with a laptop, and if I can sit up in bed and do it then it's an exercise I can do, only it all has to come to my bedside rather than me have to go out and get it. It's annoying cos with money I can have parcels delivered and buzz them in with my intercom, but it's actually harder to get things that are "lying around", partly because I don't know what is lying around either, not been out of my coccoon in a wee while except hospital (and wee sly trips in hospital transport paid for on the side). But I'm up from hard corset to soft corset so getting closer to getting back in my chair.

AHA! And how much does that laptop WEIGH, missy?

Go ahead and crank out a couple of two-armed bench presses. And throw in a triceps extension while you're at it. I'll be here.

LOL, 3.4kg according to the manufacturer website. Since it's attached to a swing arm to stop me from knocking it into oblivion every time my hands have an attack of the swats I'd have to bench press the entire room.

This isn't a household item, but you can go to the store and buy some resistance bands. I don't know where you might buy those in Scotland, however-- here in the states a store like Wal-Mart sells them for very cheap.

But around the house-- water bottles, soup cans, things of that nature are good to start out with.

if you can roll over at all, why not do different plank positions in bed? I find the side plank particularly tortuous. and because you're supporting your own weight it's definitely not 'light' weights.

The other thing, if you can sit on the edge of your bed, with your butt hanging off the bed you can use your arms to do dips, that will imitate those other arm excersizes.

maybe there are other plyometric ( I think that's what they're called) exercises, basically they use your own body weight.